X-Wave Innovations, Inc. — National Aeronautics and Space Administration SBIR Phase I: H12

Description

Physiologic monitoring of the crew in human exploration missions is of crucial importance to evaluate and understand the health and emotional state of crew members. Currently, such monitoring involves the use of crew-worn bio-sensors, which have inherent disadvantages and limitations. NASA is interested in the development of advanced crew-monitoring technology that will make use of monitoring technology installed in the space vehicle to continuously monitor the crew#39;s physiologic parameters remotely, without need for crew intervention. The technology to be developed should leverage technology provided by the vehicle infrastructure and not require additional resources.To address this critical need, X-wave Innovations, Inc. propose an advanced sensor fusion based framework for crew health monitoring. We will leverage on-board technology such as HD video, infra-red cameras, and additional sensors to monitor and acquire crew physiologic data. Advanced sensor fusion algorithms will be used to combine the acquired data and characterize the health and emotional state of the crew members. Using known baseline values for different physiologic parameters for each crew member, the sensor fusion algorithm will detect and notify if any anomalous physiologic signatures are found.During the Phase I program, we will demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed technology by developing a prototype sensor fusion framework that uses HD video, infra red camera images, and microphone audio to characterize the health of human subjects. During the Phase II program, we will develop a fully functional framework for continuous crew health monitoring. We will update and improve all aspects of the sensor fusion algorithms, and incorporate several sensors for monitoring. We will also develop algorithms to differentiate between multiple crew members and monitor their separate and individual health states.